Thursday, 27 October 2011

My brother in law Chris MacDonald- Parry has very kindly organized a music quiz night for this coming Monday the 31st of October at his local pub The Red Lion in Llanasa -the proceeds of which will be going to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.Please come and support us if you can -it should be a lot of fun ! There will be a raffle with the chance to win a free meal for two , the quiz starts at 8.30 pm. I`am making sure " Team M.N.D " are all of various ages so hopefully we will have a wide spread of musical knowledge. Chris organizes a quiz once a month with the proceeds raised donated to various charities.And for anyone who is interested in a bit of history.........

The pub dates back to the 1700`s- previously it was a farm called Ty Newydd [ which translated means - New House ] it is situated in the centre of a typical picturesque country village- opposite the pub is a beautiful large Georgian style manor house in which my hubby and his family grew up in-Ned`s grand father bought the house for four hundred gold sovereigns ! Where he got the money from nobody knows and it still remains a family mystery today-Many of the pieces of furniture in the house had come down from Captain Edward Morgan who was a welsh man and an officer in the Royalist Army during the civil war in the 1650`s, he played a significant part together with 3 thousand Welshmen in the defense of Chester against the Parlimentarian forces- he was also a relation to the famous Captain Henry Morgan - buccaneer who operated in the seas around Jamaica . Hmm... ..A Pirate on one side of the family and on the the other side of my husbands family- Well, he has managed to trace them back to the 1700`s to Glencoe in Scotland , he reckons all his anchestors there were probably cattle rustlers !!

Friday, 21 October 2011

Well as promised -I thought I`d let you all know that the 13 strong MND " Team Kilimanjaro" have made it to the summit this afternoon-raising over £62.000.00 pounds for the MNDA- a fantastic result!Congratulations and well done to you all ! I knew wearing our MND awareness bands would bring them luck !!

Thursday, 20 October 2011

A couple of weeks ago we were waiting- with great anticipation for the safe arrival of my nephew Chris and his partner Rebecca`s first baby [ we had no idea whether she was expecting a boy or a girl- which in my mind is so much nicer !! ] thoughts turned to who the baby would take after.......... and as a result out came the family album ! So I thought I`d share a few of the photographs with you .The above picture is of my great grandmother and father on my maternal side-she was expecting my grandfather in this photograph [ not that you would guess that looking at her ] I remember my grand dad telling me rather proudly that she had a twenty two inch waist at the time the photograph was taken !! Here she is again not long after he was born [below left ]

The wedding photograph is of my mother and father taken in the forties.The album is in a terrible state-it really needs sorting , it is one of those cellophane albums with sticky pages - you know the sort , after a while it stops sticking- the photographs slide out and get shoved back in any old order ! None of the photographs have dates on them or some of the older ones- names ! We took the album through to Andrew`s house and sat looking through it one evening with him- I had him writing the names down on the back of some of the pictures-we had a giggle at some of them.....

Wonder who this glamour puss could be ? Any ideas ?Or the two scallywags on the right below ? [ some people never change -do they ? ] I can feel a competition coming on ! Can anyone name the little chap "Going Gently " on the left hmm ?

Andrew [ above ] pole vaulting with my mother`s washing line prop [doubt she would have been happy about that ] and below after a successful fishing trip Hope you have enjoyed the photo`s !! Sorry but blogger is playing tricks with me and changing the photographs around a bit !!Oh and by the way -congratulations to Chris and Rebecca on the birth of their daughter ......Evie Grace who weighed in at seven and a half pounds -ten days overdue but well worth the wait -she is gorgeous !

Friday, 14 October 2011

A big thank you goes to Elaine from " MNDA Events " who dropped me a line today to say that their intrepid team climbing Mount Kilimanjaro [ including Pete Collins and his girlfriend Cecilia Brice-see previous post dated the 18th October ] had landed in Africa yesterday afternoon and were all now heading for Nairobi but not before finding the time to stop for a photo call for us wearing their MND awareness bands ! Thanks guys-it`s great to see you all ! She writes .........I hope you like the photo`s-the bands hold super powers to get them to the summit ! There are 13 in the MND team-the team doctor is also in the shot and to date they have raised a staggering 61,000 with hopefully a bit more to come !!

Wow that`s amazing- hopefully the next picture I post will be of them all at the summit -good luck to you all -stay safe and have fun ! I will keep you all updated.if you would like to donate - here is the linkwww.justgiving.com/peteandceciliamnd This is an amazing challenge please support these guys if you can !

Sunday, 9 October 2011

This video is of singer/ song writer Geoff Robertson who is from Brisbane Australia performing in a gala concert held in May 2006 to raise funds for MND. Geoff`s dad Hugh was diagnosed a year and a half earlier with MND - the concert raise thousands of dollars for mnd research and was a wonderful farewell to Hugh who was moved and humbled by all the attention-he died just one month later. This song is a tribute to Geoff`s grandfather Tom Robinson-I think the words are lovely.Hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did I found it very moving.

Andrew is going home today - hopefully in time to watch the grand prix !He and Tim have a little bit of rivalry going on via an internet game based on the grand prix- You set up your own team of drivers after you watch the qualifying laps on each race- you have a chance then to swop the odd driver round -there`s a leader board and medals to be won , so far Tim is leading but Andrew is hot on his heels with Pete [ Tim`s son lagging behind- doh ! ]There is a lot of teasing and leg pulling going on over it- good luck Andrew ! hope it`s a good racefor you bro ! xx

Sunday, 2 October 2011

This is one of Andrew taken two years ago while working back stage at the Manchester Academy- tuning up Mike Peter`s guitar ! Thought I would share with you some of my favourite photographs.......

Remember Viv who travelled across New Zealand in a campervan nicknamed " The Mouse "I thought this photograph he sent us was very clever and original.

We popped up to see Andrew last Friday night , Strictly Come Dancing has started back on the telly -I just love it ! Whenever we visit Andrew, he has full control over the T.V. remote - and is one of these people who continually channel hops -so much so I have often threatened [ good humouredly] to grapple the controls off him [ just as something looks interesting- he has a habit of flicking over !!] but he very kindly switched to that channel to let me and my sister watch the programme -[she`s an addict too ] not sure if any of you have ever watched the sitcom " The Royles Family " but this programme is very much like our family !! We all sit round -Andrew is tucked up in bed-the T.V. is on and we have all have made ourselves comfortable [ complete with "Puddles " the cat- who always insists on sitting on sister Ann`s knee ] chatting and in this case shouting at the telly -there is quite a bit of good humoured banter and teasing going on-and laughter too !!

This photograph was taken by Denise [pictured above- back row on the right ] who was born in England but has lived in America for over 35 years , she writes a wonderful blog called an " An English girl rambles " her main hobbies being photography-she does take some wonderful wildlife photographs, these ladies are all ex pats and every month or so meet up for lunch and a chat . Thanks for your support ladies-very much appreciated xThank you to Gavin for sending in this photograph of himself - he writes ...I`m no oil painting but I have been told that when I smile I look like Stan Laurel which I take as a wonderful personnel compliment as Stan and Laurel Hardy are my comedy idols [ my husband has the box set -you two would get on famously ] Gavin lost his father to MND a while back.This picture was sent in by Sam-I think it`s lovely ,the tattoo represents members of her family.Remember Shona ? Shona Thornhill is running 2011 km in 2011 that is 1250 miles !! to raise funds for the MNDA [ her auntie is living with MND ] she has reached 81% of her target-you can follow Shona and donate by going to her blog called 2011 in 2011 !! or www.justgiving.com/Shona2011Remember this very brave young lady..Natalie Barclay she did a sky dive to raise awareness and funds for the MNDA after losing her beloved "pop " to MND. What a fabulous experience eh Natalie ? one you will never forget-the photograph is fantastic !

This is Chris Boon and pet Alfie -Chris is living with MND ,he writes a heartwarming blog.. Chris versus MND he`s a lovely chapplease pop across if you get a moment and leave him a comment / or to donate.http://chris-versus-mnd.weebly.com/

This one above is of Andrew and Mike Peters taken at the summit of Snowdonia - when Andrew joined Mike on his charity walk down Snowdon last year and below is the dance group Inferno who stopped rehearsals and posed for us wearing their MND awareness bands.Look at the views - I find this a very poignant photograph- thank you Dave -one of my all time favourites !!This is my friend Debbie who decided not to miss a great opportunity for a photograph after deciding to redecorate her lounge and below some of the wonderful people Andrew has met on his travels while teching for Mike Peters and the Alarm.This is Andrew holding hands with Jayne while on holiday -know those freckles anywhere !

And finally-Andrew and son Jonathan on holiday last year in Lanzarote .These are just a few of my favourites. I hope you have enjoyed them . Have you got a favourite photograph ?Andrew is in St Kentigerns this week for some respite care so I will have to stock up on the peanuts for his nocturnal visitors ! It is also Jayne`s birthday -so no doubt we will have some kind of get together !! Still waiting for news from my nephew Chris and his partner Rebecca -they are expecting their first baby any time now ! Hope you are all having a great Sunday !!

About Me

My Name is Janet and my Brother Andrew is suffering from a version of Lou Gehrig's disease called progressive Bulbar Palsy.
This blog outlines my small but heartfelt efforts to support him and the ALS/MND association.